


in my imagination there is pure elation

by sleepyzeldy



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, Gen, and also to shame me into finishing requests smh, its canon so i didnt tag mcd, please let me know if i should, rating will never go past teen, rev's dead in 2nd chapter but, this is just me archiving my work basically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:09:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27196949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepyzeldy/pseuds/sleepyzeldy
Summary: botw drabble requests that were posted on my tumblr! Ships vary, I'll update the tags as chapters are added.
Relationships: Link & The Champions, Mipha/Revali (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	1. Someone accepting the bad parts of you without judging (Revali/Mipha)

Revali is tired. His wings ache from the exhaustion of performing his gale time and time again with no breaks. The cold has set in under his feathers, causing faint tremors to run through him.

It’s not enough. He won’t give in, no matter what, not until his gale is perfect and worthy of him. It’s been....difficult, these days. Sometimes letting him soar into the air like it’s his birthright and other times letting him fall as if an anvil were attached to his feet. Until he’s able to perform it at will and with no chance for error, he’s not leaving the Flight Range. Physical and mental exhaustion has never been a deterrent for him.

“You’re going to overwork yourself.” 

Mipha’s voice cuts into the cold air. Stumbling upright as fast as he can he glares at her “Why are you here?” he snaps. He doesn’t mean to sound so hostile, not to Mipha, but the idea of her seeing him at his lowest point leaves his feathers prickling uncomfortably.

Mipha walks closer, slowly, as if approaching a dangerous animal. The prickly feeling rises in him. “I was worried about you. You did not visit the domain like you had said in your letter.” as she comes closer, Revali notes the fine pieces of ruby jewelry hanging prettily beside her face. The only things keeping her from succumbing to the cold. The cold she wouldn’t have to face if he’d just suck it up and go. Revali scowls.

“I only said I might, don’t read too much into every word I say,” and because Revali is an asshole, and he's tired, and nothing has been working out today in the least, he adds “it makes you look desperate. Is Hylia’s chosen knight not around to give you attention?”

The words hit, and Revali regrets. He turns his face back towards the bottom of the flight range. Doesn't want to see the way Mipha will surely choose to leave, like everyone else. He wouldn’t blame her. He can’t even bring himself to apologize for his unwarranted comment. Not right now.

There’s a soft touch on his shoulder, and he almost jumps out of his skin. Whipping his head to face her, he finds Mipha smiling at him. There’s hurt in her eyes, but there’s also understanding. He looks away. “I….” he begins, but the words get stuck along with the shame and indignation in his throat. 

Scaled fingers reach for his face, cradling his cheek and guiding him to face her once more. The smile on her face has grown, the hurt in her eyes leaving little by little. 

“I accept your apology,” she whispers, and rubs her thumb over the red marks on his cheek.


	2. Indigo skies just before dawn- Revali

Since birth, Rito children are told the sky is theirs to conquer, theirs to explore. Flying is their nature, a necessity for their bodies. The sky is their friend, their guide.

Revali, like every other Rito, fell in love with the sky.

His favorite time of day was dawn. Everything is quiet, the snow bathed in pale amber and indigo light, giving it an otherworldly glow. The wind whirling around him the only accompanying sound as he made way to the Flight Range, already awake before anyone in the village.

He remembers stealing glances at the expanse of blue and gold. Remembers wanting to never touch down. Remembers wanting to drown in the bright stretch of the sunrise.

His gale was born out of a desire to surpass everyone, yes, but it was also born out of the feverish need to _fly._

As a ghost trapped in Medoh, all he’d longed to see was the sky. See its changing colors from purple to pink to blue as the day began, the way the clouds would appear and search for partners. He even missed the rain. The ache for the sky was deep-seeded in him—never wavering and ever-strong.

The first time he saw the sky after a hundred years imprisonment, it took all his strength not to break down crying in front of Link. The sunset had greeted him, red light that should have warmed his feathers remained nothing but a splash of color on them.

Seeing the sky, the longing somehow gets _worse_. Because now, now he can see the sky, can see it change and move throughout the day, but he can’t _touch_ it. Can’t _feel_ it.

The only moments he gets to fly are when Link calls on his spirit, and even then it’s not the same. There’s glass between him and the physical world, stopping anything aside from pressure being felt. Wind that should be sharp and cold against his eyes is only a push moving his braids. Yet, his hearing is as sharp as ever, only adding on to the pain as the wind howls yet remains out of reach.

He can’t even fly without being called on by Link. Otherwise he’s stuck on Vah Medoh, anchored to the Divine Beast that was his grave for a hundred years. The sky is close and surrounds him, but now it all feels so bitter.

He wonders if this is punishment for falling at the hands of Ganon...

Believing in the gods has never been his style, preferring to rely on himself and himself only. He knows there’s no magical being coming to your aid just because you ask for it desperately enough. 

But now, now Revali wants to believe, if only to direct his bitter resentment at someone other than himself. What use are gods if not to blame them for the wrongs in the world.

Sitting on top of Vah Medoh, so close yet so far from the sky he aches, he allows himself a moment of weakness. Just one.

Indigo streaks of light reach his feathers. 

Dawn rises, and the colors reflect from his tears as Revali weeps.


	3. Gritty eyes when you stare into fire too long-Link

Link hasn’t moved in hours. He’s been staring at the solitary fire in front of him, hoping for...something. He’s not sure what. Sleep should have taken him long ago, but all he can do is peer at the dying fire while laying on the ground on his side, curled into a loose c shape.

The sky is lightening, and he almost wishes time would stop, if just for a bit. Just enough for him to recollect the pieces of him and form them into something vaguely person-shaped.

His eyes ache, but closing them for too long brings images he doesn’t want to see. Images of him almost dying yet again today. Mipha’s Grace is enough to wipe away any physical wounds, but the mind remembers. It remembers vividly.

A gentle wind tugs at his hair and clothes. It gives the fire a bit more life, before it settles back down. The grass underneath him is prickly, but in a way that feels familiar, grounding. The solid weight of the earth is the only thing keeping him anchored. 

_It’s not all bad,_ he thinks. He gets to travel, gets to rediscover a land he doesn’t remember, gets to meet new people and creatures and beings. He’s not stuck. Not like the princess is, at least. There’s a heavy weight on his shoulders, but it’s not as unbearable as it had felt at the start. Or maybe he’s just gotten used to it. Perspective is a strange thing.

The fire crackles and pops. He wonders what it would be like, to be fire. To burn and rage unabashedly, to give warmth and vivid colors at all times. To be neither a liquid nor solid nor gas, but in a category all on its own. He wonders what it’d be like, to touch something so wild and beautiful and terrifying.

The impulse to reach out is strong, but Link keeps his hands on the ground, ignoring any curious twitch. Getting burned is not a good idea, especially since his stock of food and elixirs is depleted. He doesn’t think Mipha will appear only for a burn. Mipha. He wonders what she thinks of this new him.

He wonders what they all think. Urbosa. Daruk. Zelda. Revali. Do they view him as the same old friend they knew? The same stoic knight who follows his duty until death? Or maybe they see him as a stranger, a wildfire burning through their memories of the past.

Burning the past....he blinks. The fire has died, another day has begun.

Link gets up. His joints creak, phantom pains in his body tell him it will rain today. He packs up the snowquill coat he’d been using as a pillow. Clears away the ashes of the fire and makes sure it won’t light again on accident. Unsupervised fire can only lead to destruction.

With a trembling sigh and trembling legs, Link takes a step forward.


End file.
